Editor\u2019s Note: This article is a review and includes subjective thoughts, opinions and critiques.<\/p>\n
Kaytranada just makes people want to dance.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As the headliner for the Sleeping on Gems Fest in San Jose last month, the Canadian DJ commanded the crowd from a 360-degree stage as he switched back and forth between boards facing opposite sides. Even with his back turned to half the audience at a time, fans remained captivated, maintaining an incessant bounce even between songs.<\/p>\n
Kaytranada was a master of energy, carefully balancing the anticipation of his big hits to weave in his lesser-known songs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Just a few minutes into the set, he played \u201cNeed It,\u201d which, with Masego\u2019s repetitive chorus making it easy to sing along, immediately got the crowd moving. Soon after, he played \u201cSnap My Finger.\u201d Pinkpantheress\u2019 vocals overlaid on the vibrant electronic track \u2014 the melody seemingly influenced by Wham!\u2019s \u201cEverything She Wants\u201d \u2014 locked everyone into the rhythm and kept the groove going.<\/p>\n
The richness of the sound and reactions to the first few songs made clear that headphones cannot do Kaytranada\u2019s music justice. The atmosphere the DJ creates is unique, filled with a kinetic energy that moves throughout the crowd.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Concert attendees, including Josh Buenviaje \u201927, also noticed the difference in hearing Kaytranada\u2019s music live.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d been listening to him for years, but seeing him live was just like a surreal experience,\u201d Buenviaje said. \u201cIt was better than I could have even imagined.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Planes also flew over Discovery Meadow during the set to land at the nearby San Jose airport, creating a dreamlike aura at the outdoor venue.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Toward the middle of the set, Kaytranada played \u201cLover\/Friend,\u201d featuring Rochelle Jordan \u2014 one of the festival\u2019s slept-on gems who performed right before the DJ.<\/p>\n
Despite being a lesser-known artist, Jordan drew a crowd and excited fans. \u201cI hadn\u2019t even heard of her, but thought that she was a great performer,\u201d Buenviaje said.<\/p>\n
In the later part of his set, Kaytranada brought out popular songs \u201cYOU\u2019RE THE ONE,\u201d \u201cWitchy\u201d and a flurry of songs from his \u201cBUBBA\u201d album \u2014 \u201cFreefall,\u201d \u201cGo DJ\u201c and \u201c10%.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
He seemingly saved the best for last, playing cemented hits \u201cBe Your Girl\u201d and \u201cIntimidated\u201d in the final 15 minutes of the set. \u201cI know this is your favorite song right here,\u201d Kaytranada told the crowd as they clapped in unison to the beat of \u201cIntimidated\u201d.<\/p>\n
Kaytranada had a unique way of engaging with the crowd, not only instructing them to dance, but busting out moves himself and incorporating lights triggered for specific beats in the songs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHe just understands his audience really well,\u201d said Buenviaje. \u201cWhen we were dancing, he was dancing. That was really cool of him as a performer to be so in touch with the people that he\u2019s making music for.\u201d<\/p>\n
During the start of \u201cDance Dance Dance Dance,\u201d people would pose every few seconds. As the song continued, more people caught on, making the set feel like a collective experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone was grooving, everyone was dancing and we were all synced,\u201d said Buenviaje.<\/p>\n
The DJ\u2019s perfectionism was also on display. After dropping the beat to a song, which led the crowd to break out into dance, he was seemingly frustrated with his mixing and transitioned into a different track. \u201cHold on,\u201d he said, \u201cI want to do something else.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even before the set started, he instructed the technicians over the mic to turn down the bass\u00a0on the speakers, which was notably overpowered throughout the festival.<\/p>\n
Kaytranada has previously spoken about his perfectionism, including when discussing the rationale behind the title of his debut album \u201c99.9%.\u201d After spending more than two years working on the album, the artist repeatedly thought he reached the final cut but was \u201calways only 99.9% sure,\u201d leading to his album name, he told<\/a> i-D magazine.\u00a0<\/p>\n His efforts have not gone unnoticed by fans. These countless iterations have culminated in an exceptional live experience and a must-see show.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Editor\u2019s Note: This article is a review and includes subjective thoughts, opinions and critiques. Kaytranada just makes people…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":487837,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[5296,17876,10568,3146,190529,190530,330,176166,88,90,89,6196,202],"class_list":["post-487836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-canadian","tag-concert","tag-daily","tag-dj","tag-haitian","tag-kaytranada","tag-music","tag-remix","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news","tag-set","tag-stanford"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=487836"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487836\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/487837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=487836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=487836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=487836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}